Needle discovery raises concerns

A Cape Breton First Nations community is asking residents to consider the health and safety of its band employees when flushing hypodermic needles down the drain.

In a bulletin sent over social media Tuesday afternoon, Eskasoni First Nation said it has become concerned for employee safety after hundreds of hypodermic needles were filtered through the community’s sewage treatment plant.

Tuesday’s posting said that 244 needles were retrieved from the plant since last Friday.

“Needles that are not disposed right are very hazardous to our employees, family members and our children,” the bulletin said.

After a 11/2-hour community meeting Monday, band officials decided to offer no comment to The Chronicle Herald about the discovery of a high volume of needles in their filtration system.

“We supply them with big kiosks … they look like mailboxes, only they’re yellow and there to put your rigs in,” said Jo-Anne Rolls, an educator with the AIDS Coalition of Cape Breton.

“As part of the needle exchange, we do have a partnership with Eskasoni, and so what we do is we go out there and supply a lot of their gear and we handle the two kiosks that are out there.”

Rolls said people who use needles for whatever reason often don’t want to be seen disposing their syringes

“Because we stigmatize everything … that makes people afraid to seek out a sharps container. So they’re going to hide it somewhere.”

In the last year alone, the coalition handed out 445,000 syringes in an attempt to stop the sharing of needles among intravenous drug users.

In Cape Breton Regional Municipality, spokeswoman Christina Lamey said while there have been syringes found in public places, finding them in waste water has never been an issue.

“They think that the drop boxes that are often in bathrooms are helping a lot,” said Lamey. “When it comes to finding them outdoors and everything, the police are tasked with taking care of removal.”

Anyone wanting to dispose of syringes in Eskasoni can do so at the community health centre.